title: Transposon-tagging identifies novel pathogenicity genes in Fusarium graminearum.
abstract: With the increase of sequenced fungal genomes, high-throughput methods for functional analyses of genes are needed. We assessed the potential of a new transposon mutagenesis tool deploying a Fusarium oxysporum miniature inverted-repeat transposable element mimp1, mobilized by the transposase of impala, a Tc1-like transposon, to obtain knock-out mutants in Fusarium graminearum. We localized 91 mimp1 insertions which showed good distribution over the entire genome. The main exception was a major hotspot on chromosome 2 where independent insertions occurred at exactly the same nucleotide position. Furthermore insertions in promoter regions were over-represented. Screening 331 mutants for sexual development, radial growth and pathogenicity on wheat resulted in 19 mutants (5.7%) with altered phenotypes. Complementation with the original gene restored the wild-type phenotype in two selected mutants demonstrating the high tagging efficiency. This is the first report of a MITE transposon tagging system as an efficient mutagenesis tool in F. graminearum.
authors.affiliation: Univ. Paris-Sud 11, CNRS, UMR8621, Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dufresne
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van der Lee
authors.forename: Sarrah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ben M'barek
authors.forename: Xiude
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Taiguo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Cees
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Waalwijk
authors.forename: Wenwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gert H J
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Kema
authors.forename: Marie-Josée
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Daboussi
mesh_terms: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005670:Fusarium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000379:methods*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D014908:Triticum / Q000382:microbiology; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements